A video of new ACT MP James McDowall swearing his allegiance to the Queen in the language of Hong Kong and parts of southern China has been widely praised and shared more than 3000 times on Facebook.
The swearing in of MPs at the opening of Parliament happens when a new term begins. MPs have the option of stating their oath in two languages if they wish, and McDowall chose to do it in English and Cantonese.
"As a nod to the other half of my family I repeated mine in Cantonese. Certainly not my best effort in the language but it was fun to give it a whirl!" the list MP captioned a video of the moment he posted to Facebook.
McDowall, who entered Parliament thanks to ACT winning 7.6 percent of the party vote in the general election, has received more than a thousand comments on the Facebook post, many thanking him for recognising Hong Kong.
It comes amid increasing tension in Hong Kong over China exercising more control over the city which was promised semi-autonomy when it was handed over from Britain in 1997.
Mandarin is the official state language of China but Cantonese is spoken by the people of Hong Kong, Macau and the wider Guangdong province in southern China.
McDowall told Newshub his wife is Cantonese and they often speak using the language at home. He said many of his relatives through marriage still live in Hong Kong and in the Guangdong province.
"Thank you for remembering Hong Kong," a comment on McDowall's post says.
"You've already done very, very well! This is extremely touching, and I thank you for this," another wrote.
"This is very touching. When we Hong Kongers are suffering now, seeing a foreign politician speaks our language to swear in as MP, this truly touches our heart," another said.
McDowall told Newshub he was taken aback by the outpouring of support.
"I was very surprised at the scale of the reaction - easily over a million views via the various media outlets in Hong Kong - but not surprised at the positivity given recent events and law changes," he said.
"For many Hong Kong citizens, the Cantonese language represents their voice in a city that is rapidly losing its autonomy and control to Beijing."
He said the video was in "stark contrast" to what's happening in Hong Kong.
"Swearing an oath to the Queen in Cantonese is something that hasn't been seen in Hong Kong for 23+ years. Many Hong Kongers have also expressed that they feel their language is under threat in the city, with the government removing Cantonese as the language of instruction in schools, replacing it with Mandarin."
Earlier this month New Zealand joined its Five Eyes intelligence partners - the United States, Britain, Canada and Australia - in expressing concern over China's interference in Hong Kong.
It came after Hong Kong's Beijing-appointed Chief Executive successfully requested that a law be passed by the central government to enable her to disqualify and remove any legislator (their MPs) under the grounds of 'endangering national security'.
Four opposition members were expelled from Hong Kong's legislature. The move sparked mass resignations by Hong Kong's pro-democracy opposition lawmakers.
China's foreign spokesperson responded to the joint Five Eyes letter of concern by warning them not to interfere in its affairs.
"No matter how many eyes they have, five or 10 or whatever, should anyone dare to undermine China's sovereignty, security and development interests, be careful not to get poked in the eye."
